MOSCOW – Russia is considering extending a grain export ban into next year, first deputy prime minister Viktor Zubkov said at the weekend, after a severe drought ruined vast tracts of the country’s grain crop.
The ban came into force yesterday and is due to last until December 31st, a move designed to restrain domestic food prices because of the worst drought in more than a century, which has also caused forest fires and left Moscow blanketed in smoke.
“After October 1st we can discuss how to act after December of this year,” Mr Zubkov said in an e-mail sent on Saturday.
Russia harvested 97 million tonnes of grain in 2009, and it needs 78 million tonnes to cover domestic consumption.
Mr Zubkov stressed that the government had to balance the interests of grain traders with the need to maintain stability on the domestic food market.
The number of fires burning across Russia at the weekend dropped to 480 from 505 on Friday. – (Reuters)
